{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:01:13Z","timestamp":1760148073812,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,27]],"date-time":"2023-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1679875200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Scandinavian Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Foundation","award":["SLS-780471"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SLS-780471"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Febrile episodes are common in children and the most frequent reason for attending emergency services. Although most infections have a benign and self-limiting course, severe and sometimes life-threatening infections occur. This prospective study describes a cohort of children presenting to a single-centre pediatric emergency department (ED) with suspected invasive bacterial infection, and explores the relationships between nasopharyngeal microbes and outcomes. All children attending the ED who had a blood culture taken were offered to participate over a two-year period. In addition to conventional medical care, a nasopharyngeal swab was obtained., which was analysed for respiratory viruses and three bacterial species using a quantitative PCR. Fisher\u2019s exact test, Wilcoxon rank sum, and multivariable models were used for statistical analyses of the 196 children (75% younger than four years) who were enrolled and had sufficient data for analysis; 92 had severe infections according to the study protocol, while five had bloodstream infections. Radiologically confirmed pneumonia was the most common severe infection found in 44\/92 patients. The presence of respiratory viruses and the carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae were associated with a higher risk of pneumonia. Higher density colonisation with these bacteria were independent risk factors for pneumonia, whereas Moraxella catarrhalis carriage was associated with lower risk. Our data support the hypothesis that higher nasopharyngeal density of pneumococci and H. influenzae could play a role in the development of bacterial pneumonia in children. A preceding viral infection of the respiratory tract may be a trigger and play a role in the progression to severe lower respiratory tract infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens12040517","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,27]],"date-time":"2023-03-27T03:31:48Z","timestamp":1679887908000},"page":"517","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Febrile Children with Pneumonia Have Higher Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Load Than Other Children with Fever"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Bryndis","family":"Bjornsdottir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"},{"name":"Children\u2019s Hospital Iceland, Landspitali University Hospital, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5214-8141","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ubaldo","family":"Benitez Hernandez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Science\/Biostatistics, Landspitali University Hospital, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Asgeir","family":"Haraldsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"},{"name":"Children\u2019s Hospital Iceland, Landspitali University Hospital, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0976-9604","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valtyr","family":"Thors","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"},{"name":"Children\u2019s Hospital Iceland, Landspitali University Hospital, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1699","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/cix115","article-title":"Pneumococcal Pneumonia Requiring Hospitalization in US Children in the 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Era","volume":"64","author":"Olarte","year":"2017","journal-title":"Clin. 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